Keep God on the Side

Every so often the media will pick up a horrifying story of the public stoning of an adulterer, the de-handing of a thief, or the lashing of some other petty criminal. Most often these reports come from a mysterious Arab country that sounds familiar, but that your average Today Tonight viewer could never find in their atlas (you know, that book with all the maps in it). Saudi Arabia and my old friend Iran are traditional favourites. Then, viewers collectively shake their heads and mumble something about the cruelty and backward nature of some societies, while the reporter tries to explain the application of Sharia (Islamic) Law.

While I agree that this system is heavy on the violence and isn’t my preferred model for law and order in Australia, neither is any other religious based governance. Now while Australia is generally a Christian nation, it has managed for much of its history to separate church and state. Increasingly though, in step with the rise of American Evangelicals (watch Denton’s “God on my Side”) and their influence on politics, political decisions in this country are coloured by religious beliefs. Tony Abbott injected his ‘morality’ into the medical debate surrounding RU486 (and thankfully got slapped down), Howard continues to deny Gay Rights, has proposed the introduction of religious advisors in public schools (don’t even get me started on that) and publicly supports "the lunatic Right" (nice one Barnaby) party, Family First. Other issues of importance to our society like euthanasia and stem cell research are also frequently high-jacked with religious arguments, preventing reasonable public debate.

In short, many of the current Liberal (and Family First) policies run counter to those put forward by my Administration and are anchored deeply in Christian conservatism. Many of these tenets are literal interpretations of the bible (in context it was written over 2000 years ago and translated from Aramaic), extrapolated from passages even devout Christians have never read. In my view, the role of religion is a personal one and should be kept well separated from the running of the country. Controversial issues require free public debate, logic and compassion; ingredients sadly, that are currently lacking.